There has been controversial topic discussed that has been going on in America for centuries: “What should democracy look like, and can we achieve it?” America was founded on the premise that everyone was able to be take part in a democratic society. This comes from enlightenment thinkers who put reason to government. They, like Paine, suggest everyone has the right to life, liberty, and a part in democracy. The ideal expression of democracy in America is rooted in those ideas from the 18th century. The reality is that in America, many groups are excluded from democracy such as African Americans and women, but there are people like Thomas Paine, other enlightenment thinkers, abolitionists, and suffragists who worked to make the ideal democratic foundation of America a reality.
In Thomas Paine’s’ pamphlet Common Sense (1776), he was able to build the foundation of what American Democracy should be by using the previous theories brought up in the Enlightenment. Common Sense was first published and distributed in 1776 to all colonists across America. His theory was to use the pamphlet to stir emotions in America, allowing people to come to realization with what the British are doing to them. Some citizens wanted to get away from the British and other wanted to stay alongside them but fix friences they had.
He believed that the Brits had given America a great start but that it was now time to branch away from the British Monarchy and move on and begin a new chapter in their society, democracy. This would begin by each colony sending a representative to a congress, that would be the first step towards Democracy, eventually resulting in the country electing a president, who would be there to enforce the laws of the land created ad voted upon by the people… “We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty” (paragraph 2).
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Through his writing, Paine inspires people to want an ideal democracy although we did not yet have one. He wanted to challenge people to think about what America could be without Britain holding them down. Ideally, every person in America would have a say in their government, creating equality among the people. He is left confused on “How a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth inquiring into, and whether they are the mean of happiness or of misery to mankind” (Paragraph 1).
I believe that what Paine had in his mind was ideal democracy, he wanted people to be able to vote for what they wanted rather than be told that what they wanted and having to go along with it. In the beginning of time all men were created equal in God’s eyes, and then the British changed that into a distinction between monarchs and commoners, which as pain points out is false. In reality though they had the British there to control their every move.Paine is truly one of the fathers of democracy in America. He sets the tone for the ideal democracy and leaves it up to the rest of the Americans to follow through. The reality of that situation is that he would be disappointed as democracy does not truly exist in America. Following in Paine’s footsteps came Frederick Douglass with his speech What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? given in 1852. Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland as the son of a black woman and a unknown white man.
As a child, Douglass was lucky enough to learn to read and write- an unusually task for a slave to learn. In 1838 he was able to escape to Massachusetts and right away became involved in abolitionists communities. In 1852 he gave his speech in upstate New York to a group of female suffragists. In his speech he fought back against everything the constitution stood for and how it did stand for freedom, but only specifically for one group of people- white men. One day in particular stood out for Douglass and his fellow abolitionists- the Fourth of July as a day in America that is supposed to stand for freedom, but in reality does it really? Is every person truly free?
This is exactly was Douglass is saying is un true. Frederick explains to people that, “To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shoulds of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages” (paragraph 4).
America should be a place where everyone is equally, and where everyone has a say in their government, just like Paine fought for people to have. Except, “The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not be me” (paragraph 3). Blacks did not have the right to vote, therefore their right to have a say in their government did not exist. Instead they are working on plantations and treated as if they are property rather than people.
The same country that worked hard to get away from a monarchy so their people had a say in their government is the same government that isn’t allowing a group of people to vote just because of their skin color. The “ideal democracy” should allow everyone over the age of 18 the right to vote and participate without a care about their skin color or gender. Two years from this year’s midterm elections will mark 100 years since women were given the right to vote. But just like when black men were trying to get their right to vote, woman had to fight back against old amendments to update them to new standards.
In a political cartoon named, “Shall Women Vote?” made in 1909, the artist depicts an image of women in chains. Men want women to do what they have been doing for years; working in poor conditions in factories, raising a family, and doing what men would like them to do. Men are scared that if women can vote, men will have less power and control: the more people voting, the less a man’s vote will count. If women can vote, what else can they do? I don’t understand why women did not have the right to vote sooner since they work just as hard if not harder than men in their daily lives. If woman are living on the same ground, in the same country as men, and both are created the same way, why wouldn’t they be able to have equal voting rights.
Unfortunately though at this time in history that just wasn’t the case. People did not see women equally to men. And even when it finally became time for women to be treated identically to men and have the same rights as everyone else, men in particular got scared that now that women can vote, their votes will become jeopardized. In another political cartoon, there is a map showing the spread of women’s suffrage movement in North America created in 1917. On the side of the cartoon you see a key, white means that that area has women’s suffrage, black means no women’s suffrage, dotted means presidential suffrage, and crosses mean primary suffrage.
The states that already allowed women to vote were the new states that were just added to the United States. The new states that, they were just discovered had the opportunity to fix what they thought was wrong about American Democracy. When the new states are formed they can start from scratch and they don’t have to follow what is already being done. They don’t have anything to lose but only ways to grow. On the other hand the bolded states are the states that have something to lose, or so they think. In reality they believe that if we let women vote then we are going to lose everything. Rather than believing that woman are just like every other person who deserves the way to express themselves with in the government.
Finally after hard and long protests, in 1919, women were granted the right to vote. This was over 100 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Women were not just letting men control their participation in democracy any more. And now we are at today, 2018, just passed the midterm elections, where now in the house there is a record number of 112 woman serving in congress, and more importantly a greater number of women are registered to vote than men. Throughout the years since America was first established, citizens within it have been trying to figure out a way to implement a democracy that includes everyone.
Allowing anyone above the age of 18, any race, religion, size, shape or gender to vote in elections across the nation is essential. It all started with Thomas Paine’s thoughts from the enlightenment to even begin the journey for America becoming an “ideal democracy.” Then carried on for black men to have the right to vote, and finally for woman to have that same right. Although the United States has made great progress when modifying and amending American Democracy, I believe they are light years away from making all groups of people across the nation truly equal. This is how American Democracy has been experienced and then modified as a result of these few groups.
